


Scholars and Outlaws

by Lyviel



Series: Godwoken Kath [4]
Category: Divinity: Original Sin (Video Games)
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Recreational Drug Use
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-07
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-03-28 03:41:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13895487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyviel/pseuds/Lyviel
Summary: Kath hasn't exactly lived a life free of crime, so it isn't particularly surprising when he finds himself shipped off to Fort Joy. At least it led him to meeting Ifan Ben-Mezd.This'll be short one-shots in no particular order of my godwoken and Ifan. Mostly fluff





	1. The Undertavern

The Driftwood Undertavern. It was nice, coming across like-minded people and a place they could feel so at ease in. Places like these were so familiar and always felt like coming home. Well, what Kath imagined coming home would feel like at least. He never did have much experience with that sort of thing. 

He and Ifan had nearly shared their first kiss here so that certainly gave it more meaning. This place was still the most comfortable they'd felt in a long while and they'd taken to spending quite a bit of time here together when possible. Kath was leaning lazily against Ifan, his eyes half closed as they passed the drudanae pipe back and forth. 

“I have to say,” Kath said after a long companionable silence. “It's nice seeing you so relaxed.”

“Aren't I always relaxed?” Ifan asked, eyebrow raised. 

“You're usually all broody, although I guess it just makes it more amusing when you start poking fun.”

“I'm not broody,” Ifan objected, nudging him slightly. “You just think everyone's broody who's not as ridiculous as you.”

“Rude,” Kath said, not even bothering to hide his grin as he snatched the pipe back from Ifan. “You're lucky you're cute.”

“Cute, eh?” 

Ifan took him by surprise when he tilted Kath’s head in his direction so he could lean down and capture his lips in a quick kiss. It was distressingly short and they both blushed, turning back towards the fire quickly to avoid making eye contact. Thankfully the room didn’t break out into cheering again. It seemed no one was watching them. Ifan took the pipe back and took a large drag of it. This entire thing was silly. They’d kissed a few times before and Kath was tired of letting it reduce him to a blushing mess. Although it was adorable seeing Ifan like this. 

“This is ridiculous,” he said, making up his mind. What was the point if they didn't take a little advantage if their brief moments alone together?

“What--”

Before he could finish, Kath swung around so he was straddling Ifan’s lap and kissed him. Deeply. He threaded his fingers through Ifan’s long hair, enjoying how surprisingly soft it was even as his beard scraped roughly against his neck as Ifan kissed lower. Kath pulled at him needily, biting at his ear gently, and it wasn't until a quiet sound escapes his lips that they both seemed to remember they were still in public. Ifan pulled back quickly, turning an even brighter shade of red, and Kath couldn't help but grin at him as he slid off his lap. 

“Perhaps we should continue this later,” Ifan suggested, distracting himself with the pipe again. 

“Forgetting yourself, are you? I'll take that as a compliment.” Kath settled himself more comfortably against Ifan and took the pipe when it was offered to him. “But really, it's about time we did that again.”

“Yeah,” Ifan said, finding Kath’s hand and weaving their fingers together, bringing his hand briefly to his lips. “Hopefully we won't have to wait until everyone in the area is high on drudanae to get some more privacy.”

“Hey, I'm willing to resort to sorcery if necessary,” Kath said, winking at him. 

“Flattering, if a little desperate. Let's not go that far just yet. I'm sure there's a more sensible solution. Not that you'd know anything about sensible.”

“Shut up and give me the pipe,” Kath said with a little laugh, feeling happier and more at peace than he had is so long. 


	2. Shopping

“What about this?” Kath asked excitedly, stopping to pick up an enchanted dagger that was on display at a stall they were passing. 

“I thought you wanted to try using wands for a change?” Ifan asked, barely stopping long enough to see what he'd found. “Besides, that's not what we’re here for.”

“I know,” Kath said dejectedly, putting it back down as Ifan urged him on. “But this is more fun than just buying supplies.”

“If  _ someone _ ,” Ifan said, glancing pointedly at Kath, “hadn't spent all our money on spell books, maybe we'd be able to get more weapons. As it is, we can barely afford food.”

“Spoil sport,” Kath muttered under is breath. 

“Cute,” Ifan said, deadpan, his teeth flashing in a grin as he wrapped an arm around Kath’s shoulders. “You're lucky I brought you along at all. Honestly I'm surprised you haven't gotten us banned from every market on the continent.”

“I spent our money on fun stuff and get into a fight once and suddenly I can't be trusted,” Kath grumbled, kicking at the dusty street as they walked. 

“More than once,” Ifan pointed out. 

“At least I keep your life interesting. You know you love me,” Kath said, shooting a grin his way and bumping into him a little.

“Why I do is beyond me,” Ifan laughed as he tugged Kath closer and kissed his temple. “Just please don't get yourself accused of stealing again. How is it you're the shady one between the two of us?”

“Hmm, you do look kinda intimidating,” Kath said, studying Ifan for a moment. “Maybe they're just too afraid to accuse you of anything.”

“If you're trying to imply I should be the one to do the stealing, the answer is no.”

“Of course not!” Kath said in mock offense. “I told you, it was an accident, I wasn't actually stealing anything.”

“How is it the assassin has become the responsible one in this relationship?” Ifan asked to no one in particular, but there was a hint of a smile behind his beard and there was no mistaking the spark in his eyes. 

“Don't worry, we’ll work on that,” Kath said. “Making you less responsible, I mean. I have no intention of stepping up.”

“We’re doomed to starve, aren't we?” 

“Or get shivved in a back alley,” Kath said cheerfully. 

“Oh, well, that's fine then,” Ifan said. “At least that I've some familiarity with.”

“I sense a story behind that,” Kath said excitedly. 

“What, have you never been stabbed in an alley before? I find that hard to believe.”

“If I've done my job right, I'm well out of town before anyone wants to do any stabbing,” Kath said. 

“And all your jobs always go so seamlessly,” Ifan said sarcastically.

“Fine, fine, no need to rub it in,” Kath said, but he was smiling as well. “We’ll have to swap stories later. For now, I want to take a look at that!”

He slipped out from under Ifan’s arm to run over to another stall decidedly not full of food. Instead it was displaying all sorts of books and spells. Kath ignored his exasperated sigh but it seemed Ifan was at least humoring him, moving to stand at his side, arm around him again as Kath flipped through books, lighting up like he'd found the greatest treasure in all their adventures. 

“You are insufferable,” Ifan said, chuckling as he kissed Kath’s cheek. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their journey seemed to be coming to an end here at the Nameless Isle. Having to kill the other Godwoken was just the last straw for Kath, tired of being led around and manipulated, tired of all the death.

There was so much blood and Kath wasn’t even sure if it was his own or not. It dripped down his face, into his eyes, and he couldn’t help but laugh. It was a frantic sound, no murth to be found, and he didn’t even realize Ifan was at his side, hand on his shoulder, because he felt so detached, like he was viewing the scene from elsewhere.

“Is this it then?” Kath asked, and he wasn’t even sure who he wanted to answer; his companions or the gods lurking within them. “Is this what it is to be a god? To murder everyone in your path, to take and take until there’s nothing left to give until we’re dying like Rhalic and the others?”

“Kath–” Ifan began, but Kath didn’t want to listen to reassurances right now.

“Oh sure, getting stronger was fun at first, but now–” he gestured around uselessly at the bodies around them. “They’re dead. They’re all dead. I traveled with them a little back at Fort Joy, you know. I liked them. We could have been friends. And now they’re dead.”

“It’s not your fault,” Ifan insisted. “It was always only going to be one of us.”

“Don’t you see?” Kath said, spinning to face him, voice pleading. “I did– terrible things for this power. I kept telling myself it was the god in me, urging me on, but that was just an excuse because I wanted to know what would happen. I was curious, Ifan. How fucked up is that?”

“We did what we had to–”

“To survive?” Kath finished. “Is that really true? Who made these rules? Who said this is how it had to be? The gods are dead. Well, practically, anyway,” he added, feeling that anger and resentment within him, knowing one particular god was growing impatient with him. “Who says we have to do what they want?”

“So what are we going to do?” Ifan asked, voice serious as he placed his hands on Kath’s shoulders again. “We’re with you, we trust you. Just tell us what to do.”

Kath stared in disbelief as their other companions stood up next to Ifan. They really did trust him, didn’t they? Kath wasn’t sure why, after everything. But with Ifan here, grounding him, he felt like maybe things weren’t so pointless after all.

“Fuck ‘em up, that’s what,” Kath said, reveling in the glint of sharp teeth in Ifan’s grin. “The gods think we’re cattle, sheep to the slaughter. It’s time to show them what wolves look like.”’

“My specialty,” Ifan said, and there was his spirit wolf, ready to fight at his command as well.

Kath turned to face the end of their journey. He wasn’t sure what godhood would hold for them and he certainly didn’t want the responsibility, but he’d find a way to use it to help, to end all this death and war, this pointless infighting and a group of gods that wanted nothing but to hoard everything for themselves. Too bad he didn’t see Dallis where she was waiting, hidden in the shadows.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oops these are already out of order sorry about that. Just pretend ch3 and 4 are switched for now, I’ll fix it later   
> Anyway! I got the first two lines of dialog ingame and it was so perfectly in character I just had to write something for it

Abandoned libraries. You’d think there’d only be so many out there, but they kept stumbling across them in their travels and honestly it was kind of impressive at this point. Apparently Kath had a knack for finding them. Not even the Nameless Isle was exempt it seemed. Sure Ifan could appreciate the uncovering of lost knowledge and all that, but they were still boring. At the moment, however, he couldn't bring himself to mind.

“An ancient library!” Kath exclaimed as they entered, pure joy and excitement on his face as he gazed around. “I feel right at home.”

Ifan gave an exaggerated yawned of boredom. “Here we go.”

To be honest, Kath’s enthusiasm was infectious and Ifan couldn’t help but smile, leaning against the doorway, arms crossed as he watched. Kath could be at this for hours if left to his own devices, possibly even days if given the opportunity. Normally Ifan might be annoyed at the prospect of having to wait, settling in and trying to find something to occupy his time and stave off boredom. Right now, though, he didn’t want to take his eyes off Kath.

They’d been through so much lately and things only threatened to get worse. They were battle-weary and in need of a break anyway. But most of all, it was such a relief to see Kath like this. For as long as Ifan has known him, he’d been lighthearted and jovial; if Kath couldn’t shirk his duties in this fight of gods and the Void, than he was at least determined to have as much fun as possible while on this quest. Unfortunately it seemed even he wasn’t immune to the stress of it all and it was beginning to get to him. It felt unnatural, seeing him grow so quiet and grim, especially over the last few days.

No, this was so much better. Ifan had already sworn to follow him and while he wasn’t exactly sure what else he could do other than lend his crossbow, if he could help get Kath through this before he lost himself to it he would. He wanted Kath to be able to be like this all the time, to be free of this overwhelming pressure and be able to make his own choices again.

As Kath finally settled down, surrounded by a pile of books he’d pulled off shelves, and began leafing through a particularly large tome, Ifan went to join him. He picked up a book and examined the cover as he sat at his side.

“Anything interesting this time?” he asked, tossing the book aside.

“Rude!” Kath said, grabbing up the poor book and examining its spine for damage. “They’ve all been interesting, you just don’t appreciate a good book.”

“Hey, I can appreciate a good book, these are just so dry.”

“How dare you,” Kath said in mock offense, bumping his shoulder into Ifan’s and leaning against him.

“You better not be planning on bringing the entire library with us by the way,” Ifan said, dropping his arm heavily across Kath’s shoulders, squeezing affectionately. “I’m not gonna help you carry them this time. They’re just so damn heavy.”

“I hope you know,” Kath said, twisting around so he could lay down with his head in Ifan’s lap. “As soon as all this is over with, we’re going back for all the books we had to leave behind.”

If they survived. No, when they survived. All this doom and gloom really didn’t fit well with either of them. So instead, Ifan gave a derisive snort both of them knew was fake and he ran his fingers gently through Kath’s hair. Moments like these were so rare, he wanted to preserve it as long as he could. The fate of the world could wait a little longer, they deserved a rest.

 


	5. Fireside

Kath was standing beside the fire, poking at it with a stick. Everyone had long since gone to bed but Kath was too bored and restless. Normally he would simply read to unwind, but he was even too tired for that and instead stated down into the hypnotic flames. He was watching the sparks he was kicking up float away and vanish when he felt arms wrap around him from behind and he nearly jumped out of his skin. He already had his dagger in hand when he realized it was only Ifan.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you,” Ifan said, a chuckle resonating deep in his chest as he held Kath close.

“You realize if you keep that up I’m probably going to stab you one of these days,” Kath said with an annoyed sigh he didn’t entirely feel as he slipped his dagger back into its sheath.

“Worth it,” Ifan replied, leaning down to kiss behind his ear.

“What’s up? Can’t sleep either?” Kath asked, taking Ifan’s hand and raising it to his lips.

“Mmm.” Ifan was silent for a long moment before he finally spoke, voice unusually somber. “Thank you.”

“For what?” Kath asked. Ifan sounded much too serious so he nudged back into him. “Keeping the fire going even though we don’t need it anymore and it’s bound to draw unwanted attention?”

“Well that, sure,” Ifan said. “But also for reminding me what it is to believe in something again.”

“I don’t follow,” Kath said, feeling uncertain. He never know how to react whenever things got serious. “Normally the only thing I get accused of is reminding people of the hopelessness of humanity.”

“You’re ridiculous, it’s true,” Ifan said with a laugh.

“That’s more like it,” Kath said.

“It’s just--” Ifan continued. “I’ve spent a long time with no sense of purpose, killing because it didn’t seem to matter. And then I met you.”

“Sorry?” Kath said, turning in his arms to face him. He wasn’t any good at this sort of thing, all he knew how to do was joke around. At least he won a smile from ifan instead of annoying him.

“I’ve lost faith in everything, every cause I’ve been a part of, everyone I’d chosen to follow. But you— you’ve given me something— someone to believe in. You’ve reminded me that there are still things to fight for.”

“You say that now,” Kath said, suddenly nervous. That was a lot of responsibility to place on him and it was honestly terrifying, as was the intensity, the depths of affection in Ifan’s eyes. At least Ifan cracked a smile again.

“For you, I can trust. For you, I can believe. I just wanted you to know that, before we reach Arx. Whatever happens, I’m grateful.”

“Seriously, you should probably wait until after we’ve killed the big bad. We could still fail miserably and then you might regret all this.”

“As long as we aren’t absorbed by the Void I can always hunt you down in the afterlife to express my annoyance,” Ifan said.

“Good point. I guess I’ll pray for the Void, then.”

“Pray to who?” Ifan asked, chuckling again. “You killed Rhalic.”

“Ah, right. Well, I was never really the praying type anyway.” Kath glanced away awkwardly, but continued on valiantly. “And since you’ve already made things weird, I should thank you too. For sticking around.”

“And where exactly would I have gone?”

“Well, you could have turned against me on the Nameless Isle for one,” Kath said. “Or just said fuck it to this whole nonsense and left. I know I’ve been tempted to on more than one occasion.”

“We both know you wouldn’t do that,” Ifan said, smiling fondly at him again.

“And here I thought you knew me pretty well at this point,” Kath said.

“Oh sure, you talk a big game, but you couldn’t abandon us.”

“Ifan, I’ve spent my life running away from things. It’s all I’ve ever done, all I was really good at. I guess I should thank you too because this is the first time I’ve wanted to see something through. Sometimes it’s boring or painful and just too much work, but— I actually like being here, with all of you. So yeah. Despite all that, it’s been fun. And I’m glad I stayed.”

“Me too,” Ifan said, pressing his forehead to Kath’s. “Now, are you coming to bed or what?”

“Yeah, sure,” Kath said with a smile. “If you snore again I’m pushing you out of the tent, though.”

“I hate to break it to you,” Ifan said, arm around Kath’s shoulder as they made their way back to their bedrolls. “You’re the one who snores. You keep waking yourself up.”

“How dare you,” Kath said, although there was no bite in his words.


End file.
